[Oh, things like this, isn't he charming— He is, actually, Octavian is very charmed, quietly flattered to be something worth leaving the laboratory for. He awards himself another mental point - for making Viktor laugh, it counts - and tilts his glass back and forth a bit so the ice will clink. Would it be too weird to do in front of Viktor if he just stuck his fingers in there to get the ice out and chew on it, hmm, much to think about—

But the flattery, the flattery, yes. He shrugs, like, well! Isn't that something!]

I am sure you have heard it all as well. "Come and have drinks with us." "Come meet my interdepartmental friends." [He shakes his head; ugh, social people in academia. Let him rest. Woe,] I love my brother despite his incessant friend-making.

[Both true and for the bit, as he would spend fifteen years in a lab too, if given the choice. Or thirty, if not. Immaterial.]

Were I not so... [he nods down at himself, so brand new? A man desperate to touch everything he hasn't felt in decades? You know,] I would relish disappearing completely. Although I would not mind if someone like you came to visit.